Rebutting the rebuttal
To the editor:
Any time you submit an editorial to a newspaper or magazine you open yourself up to a rebuttal.
This, needless to say, happened to me with my comment of a couple of weeks ago about an all-volunteer fire department. A certain percentage of the population will always misunderstand the true meaning of the letter. Perhaps the response time wasn’t 30 minutes, but I know the employees in my office stood in front of the windows watching the fire for more than six minutes.
I’m sorry if there were those who thought I was picking on the Mars Hill Fire Department. I specifically stated (and I quote): Now please don’t think that I’m placing any blame on the firefighters. It’s amazing that they got there as fast as they did and put the fire out immediately.” How much clearer could I have been?
This could have happened in any small town in America. It just happened to take place in Mars Hill. I have nothing but the utmost respect for our firefighters and police officers who put their lives on the line every day, and rarely get the credit they deserve.
Again I apologize to those who misinterpreted the meaning of my letter, which was that the response time of an all-volunteer fire department is much greater than a fully-staffed fire department. And I didn’t want to see this system implemented in Presque Isle. Just the thought of conducting a citizen survey in Presque Isle on this subject is scary enough in itself.
Terry McEntee
Presque Isle
